Howard Fishman brings his band to BF

BELLOWS FALLS -- On Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Stone Church Arts welcome Howard Fishman and his band to Immanuel Episcopal Church, 20 Church St.

Critically-acclaimed singer, guitarist, composer and bandleader Fishman’s exuberant, spontaneous and unvarnished music has made him a favorite of audiences and critics alike. Ever-evolving and increasingly difficult to pin down, Fishman filters a deep passion for New Orleans jazz, Brooklyn soul, open-hearted country, blues and gospel music through an original, experimental aesthetic, to create a sound entirely his own. The New York Times has written that his music "transcends time and idiom."

Fishman began his musical career on the streets of New Orleans and in the subways of New York before landing his first major engagement at the Algonquin Oak Room in 1999. Since then, he has headlined in some of the most prestigious venues in the U.S. and abroad, including Lincoln Center, The Steppenwolf Theatre, The Blue Note, The Pasadena Playhouse, Joe’s Pub, The Great American Music Hall and Le Petit Journal in Paris.

Fishman is a frequent NPR guest, and has made feature-length appearances on "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross, "World Cafe" with David Dye, "The Leonard Lopate Show" and "Soundcheck" with John Schaefer, among many others.

Although primarily known as a songwriter, Fishman began his career immersed in early jazz, folk, blues, and country music, creating a bedrock of knowledge of American roots forms that, when applied to his pop, classical and experimental leanings, helped forge the style for which he is known today (and which critics are, universally, at a loss to describe).

Fishman’s most recent recording (his 10th), "The Howard Fishman Quartet Vol. III: Moon Country," was released in October 2011. His original oratorio, "we are destroyed," featuring his band plus four singer/actors, continues to be programmed, most recently at the Abrons Arts Center in New York City. "The Frozen North," Fishman’s original score for the Buster Keaton silent film of the same name, was programmed and performed as part of the 2012 New York Guitar Festival at Merkin Hall in New York City. He is currently at work on a new project titled "A Star Has Burnt My Eye," an examination of the life and music of Connie Converse.

Admission to Saturday’s concert is $17 for adults ($13 for seniors and children under 12) in advance and $20, $15, at the door. Tickets are available at Village Square Booksellers in Bellows Falls, Toadstool Bookshop in Keene, N.H., Brattleboro Books, Misty Valley Books in Chester and at www.brattleborotix.com or at the door.

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